Volatile Times
by AcornBeauregard
Summary: Pretty much the generic chaptered 'Terezi goes blind and Karkat ends up being one of the only people concerned enough to make sure she doesn't die until she can 'see' again' fanfics. ;u; I'm sorry, it's so over done but I love these two.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Sorry, I didn't realize this was the un-proof read version. D: It's been updated now. **

Pain. Pain and heat. That was all that you could feel as you stumbled back in what you were sure had to be the direction of your hive. The bottoms of your feet hurt. Your muscles hurt. Your back hurt. Oh god, your eyes hurt so badly and you couldn't see anything but everything was so tender on your face that you weren't sure if you couldn't open your eyes or something much worse happened. At this moment, you were hoping it was the former but what you could feel past the burning and blunt pain was what you thought were your eyes being open.

You never remember your ladder being like this. Being so… terrifying. You could feel everything underneath you. You were so aware of every little movement or noise that was around you. That slight swing that came from each step you took farther up felt like the whole tree swaying and threatening to come down. It was so unnerving, so unsteady that it almost made your stomach nauseous thinking about how close you were to falling and getting more hurt than you already were. Ignoring this, you pushed on and came to the front window, not jumping down onto the floor like usual but cautiously putting your foot out until you felt the floor beneath your feet, then stepping down.

You weren't sure what to do. You had a few options but none of them seemed too safe to you. You could go to sleep, see if the sopor would make everything better, make the pain go away and maybe make that slight tugging you've been feeling in the back of your mind go too. You weren't sure what it was and in all honesty you weren't sure whether it was comforting or terrifying, even if it was just a symptom of your knew found disability.

Your only other options were to stay up and wander your hive; there was no good that would do. There was nothing to do that most likely wouldn't end with you tumbling down a flight of stairs or even out of your tree, much less find something actually worth trying to waste your time. Or you could get on Trollian and try to get help from someone. You knew that there as little chance you could get through this on your own. Even if you managed to by yourself, you'd have probably done so much harm trying to do little things like eat that it would barely be worth it. So maybe Sollux knew how to fix this or at least knew what was going on. All you seemed to figure out so far was that you were sure Vriska or Mr. Vanilla Ice-cream was behind this and Sollux had helped you with everything else that had to do with her so why not this? Another thing you knew for sure was that there was no way that it was simply coincidence; that this would happen right after you got payback for Team Charge. FLARPing pride aside, there was no reason for this and you needed to make things right, make things fair. Vriska never seemed to understand that and even more so she didn't seem to now. She was the problem with getting on Trollian, despite your new trouble with your eyes. You couldn't click to choose who you were talking to. What would happen if you were to do something stupid as in message Vriska, ask her to come to your hive or something of that nature? Now was not the time to be messing with her.

The air around you is damp and you're not sure whether it's rain, tears, or blood running down your face. You clench your fists, shaking your head as if to shake away the doubts you had, feeling around the room in front of you for your computer chair. Maybe you could message someone like Feferi? That wouldn't be that bad. She'd tell Sollux. Tavros would tell Gamzee or Karkat and if he told Gamzee, he would tell Karkat. Karkat is close enough to Sollux. He'd come to your hive and message Sollux for you. You know their rivalry is fake, he'd probably suggest contacting him. You'd find someone that wasn't Vriska.

Sitting down in your chair, you open your husktop and begin clicking around where you assume your Trollian shortcut is. You hear the all too familiar tone that signals the program starting up and a wave of relief comes over you. Half the battle was over. Hitting the tab key a few times to get past the menu bar, you hit it only once or twice more, stopping and staring at your screen. It's not like you can see it but you're staring at it intently, not sure if this is what you really want to do. You hated this. You hated feeling so helpless and nervous. You weren't supposed to be scared. Vriska was horrible but you've dealt with her for forever now. There's still a slight shake to your hands when you finally do it though, despite trying to calm yourself down. Breathing in deeply, then holding your breath, you press the Enter bar and once again hear the familiar tone and can almost visualize a chat box springing to life saying "gallowsCalibrator [GC] began trolling…"

You steady your hands on the keyboard, trying to make sure you're in line to minimize as many typos as possible you hear the tone of your computer saying that the person you started a chat with is messaging you. Must be a little impatient. You couldn't help but laugh a bit, though you realize this is a mistake soon after when the pain from your sore muscles and burns hits you.

"CG: TEREZI, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?  
GC: VR1SK3?  
CG: NO, THIS ISN'T FUCKING VRISKA. WHAT THE HELL, DON'T YOU EVEN KNOW WHO YOU MESSAGED?  
GC: 1 R34LLY HOP3 1TRS NOT VR1SK4  
GC: COM3 OT MY H1VC3  
CG: WHAT? WHY?  
CG: TEREZI, WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?  
CG: TEREZI?  
CG: GOD FUCKING DAMMIT.  
carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased pestering gallowsCalibrator [GC]."

And now you wait. You really hoped this decision didn't mean life or death for you because it easily could. If it was someone like Eridan you might even be screwed. Feferi's lusus may not eat other trolls but you really didn't want to find out if it had a specific preference. Though, you'd probably not have to worry about that seeing as how you'd drown before you got to her. Vriska would feed you to her lusus or maybe just play with you, then kill you herself. If it was Gamzee, he may never receive the message. He's so light headed he's probably off at the sea, watching for his lusus, not paying attention to his Trollian. You could be waiting for days before you get a reply. Fun thoughts.

That tugging at the back of your mind is getting stronger and it's starting to scare you. You think it might be Vriska. Maybe, just maybe, she found a way around it. Maybe now she can get to you and that's what happened. Maybe she's still there, even if she isn't controlling you yet. This time though, it wasn't telling you to go outside. It was telling you to go into your recuperacoon and you wanted to obey more than anything at that moment.

You fight with yourself for a little bit, not even sure where you're recuperacoon was. Vriska seemed to know quite well. The tugging in your mind was trying to show you the way to it and after a few moments, you gave in. Taking off your clothing, you follow the mental prodding. You can understand words but you don't know what they mean or how you can even identify them. It's just a simple humming, almost like a melody. You understand though. You understand that it's... it's almost apologetic. That it wouldn't hurt you. It's trying to comfort you. That scares you more than anything.

Hesitantly, you climb into the sopor; the goo surrounding you and making your limbs tingle. It's refreshing. The pain, the soreness, the worry; it's gone. The voice, the humming is louder and along with all of your pain, the fear had left too. You knew this humming. It had been there all along, you realize. You just had never listened to it before. It was a female voice, words becoming more apparent so the melody was more like singing. She was singing you to sleep, and soon, you obeyed.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: POV switch since Terezi is asleep. I may switch back and forth every chapter. Bah, I don't know. Anyways, this is Karkat, not Terezi. **

What was she thinking? What even was going on with her lately? She has the nerve to disappear for a few days and then message you like she's more stoned than that clown you have to deal with? This wasn't like her at all. At this point, you were pretty sure this was one of her sick games. She was probably too busy tying up one of the scalemates that she could only type with one hand and she probably pulled a Gamzee and sat staring at that egg for however long.

_"BUT K4RK4T 1 N33D 4 GR4ND THR3SH3CUT1ON3R ;]"_

That was always her reason for calling you over. Then you'd have to sit there and watch her as she made some shitty courtroom scene in front of you, prodding you every once in a while for an opinion on the case.

_"4S 1T H4S B33N PR3S3NT3D, PROF3SSOR PLUMSQU34K N33DS TO B3 CH4RG3D GU1LTY W1TH H1GH TR34SON FOR CR1M3S 4G41NST 4LT3RN14 4ND H3R GOV3RNM3NT TH3 SUGG3ST3D S3NT3NC1NG 1S H4NG1NG BUT DO YOU H4V3 4NY OTH3R SUGG3ST1ONS OF WH4T TO DO W1TH TH1S H31NOUS CR1M1N4L, GR4ND THR3SH3CUT1ON3R V4NT4S?"  
_  
If you were to suggest anything less than disturbing then she would overrule your judgment anyways. If you were to agree with her she may just accept the verdict or she may tell you to 'G3T SOM3 CR34T1V1TY'. Either way, unless you decided to turn into a sick freak like Vriska, you would get a shake of the head and possibly a drubbing. Roleplaying with her really was less than pleasant.

It had just gotten dark out enough for you to go outside. By this time, you're almost there. You were able to tell where her hive was by the mass amounts of scalemates hanging from the trees, swinging in the very slight breeze and some of them occasionally making horror movie worthy squeaks. God, that was eerie. Their little bodies swung back and forth, both looking cheerful and morbid. How she could even like these things was beyond you. Though, to be honest, they matched her pretty well. The cheerful and morbid part.

You stop, seeing the giant tree in front of you that still had the ladder down, leading to a giant tree house that was so massive that it made little to no sense how the tree could even keep itself upright at this point. It was one of the larger ones in the forest though and it did still stand strong. It seemed to stop growing when Terezi had Gamzee build the hive for her. The 'treehouse' was still so far off the ground that nothing would even think about taking the effort to climb it and you really wish that you didn't have to. Terezi, of course, seemed to have no problem with the ridiculous length of her 'doorstep' as she called it.

You call up to her just in case. You felt awkward going up into her hive without her permission or even knowing if she's still there. It was Terezi you were dealing with. For all you know, she could have decided to wander back off into the forest to go whisper to an egg that was probably never going to hatch, not to be seen again for the next couple days. You kind of wonder if maybe her lusus never will hatch, if it's already dead and she just keeps it around to make sure she wasn't culled on sight. After a no response you start climbing the freakishly long ladder. By the time you get to the top, you realize why she never wants to go out anywhere. Coming home would be more tiring than being out all that night.

You're shocked when you finally see all that's happened in her hive. Things are strewn about her floor, some of her dragon scales are littered on the other side of her block, the sopor is all around her recuperacoon that you're surprised there's any left in there. The one thing that's missing is Terezi, though from the discarded clothes and the still full looking recuperacoon, you're pretty sure you know where she is. You let out a groan in frustration, making sure not to slip in the sopor when you walk over to the side of it. Kicking it a few times, you reach into the goo, grimacing at the feel of it and that your sleeve is probably disgusting by now. You fish around for her, grabbing what you really hope is her shoulder and trying to pull her up.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: POV switch back again to Terezi. I think I'm going to keep it going like this. Every odd chapter being Terezi and every even one being Karkat. **

Something was touching you. This is definitely not what you needed right now. Your senses were going crazy, your head was spinning, and that same annoying voice was trying to comfort you into staying asleep. You would have listened if you didn't hear the muffled yelling from the physical world that you recognize immediately. While you were hoping for Sollux, it was such a relief to hear Karkat even if he was yelling profanities at the top of his lungs. Opening your eyes, you sit up out of the sopor, leaning up against the side to cover yourself. Karkat would be such a wriggler about it even now, much less if you didn't take the moment to make sure you weren't exposed. " I DON'T NEED TO SEE THAT, TEREZI. WE'RE ONLY 6 SWEEPS. WHAT THE HELL." And then the usual getting flustered, ranting, and not looking at you for the next half hour, even if you did get dressed. You know that's how it would play out.

There's still sopor in your hair but most of it has rolled down off of your face by now. You slick your hair back, gripping on to the side of the recuperacoon with one hand to keep yourself balanced and above. The wounds on your face start pulsing with pain; you almost forgot about this. You still couldn't see but for some reason you now could tell where he was. Only him though, and you couldn't pinpoint why or anything about him but you could tell where the edge of your coon was and where the angry younger troll stood. Maybe you were just used to the room and your senses were compensating. You could hear him breathing, him speaking to you (even if you weren't listening to exactly what he had to say) and his little groans of frustration made you giggle. You could also smell him though. He smelled… amazing. You'd worn one of his sweaters before, you knew his scent well, but you never could smell him from this far away. You assume again that it's your senses over compensating for your lack of sight, your body is going through a lot of shock at the moment.

You couldn't help but crack a smile when you could practically hear his shock. Even though you couldn't see yourself, you figured that since it hurt like hell it must look close to the same. Sadly, you were completely right. Wounds of teal bordered your, now, cherry red eyes. That was always one of the colours you loved the look of the most and now you wore it. Those teal wounds had already started to heal from the sopor; it was like sunburn that only turns your skin a harsh colour, no blood or breaking. Your skin was extremely tender, sore to any kind of touch whether it be someone actually touching you, your shirt being pulled over your head, or a small current of wind travelling through your hive. What did worry you now though was that after the sopor, a lot of the pain was gone, and now you could feel yourself blink. You could feel your eyes open. They just weren't working.

He was stuttering again. Trying to think of something to say, probably not able to decide whether or not one of his insults were too harsh. Probably, he doesn't know whether to be angry at you or worried about you. He can't seem to settle on one when you finally hear him speak. "What.. What the fuck, Terezi?" He's had his better moments but for now it seems the man who could ramble on forever on one subject completely on metaphors is speechless. It must really be that bad.

You don't know what to say so you stay quiet until he decides to speak again. It takes him a while but finally, he speaks up. "What… What happened?" His voice gets more loud and panicked as he goes on, you can just imagine his expression. His forehead wrinkling from being pushed together, looking worried but every once in a while his eyebrows pulling down into anger, like he's readjusting himself because he forgot that he's supposed to be furious. But at the same time, you can imagine his eyes wide with horror. Maybe even him looking slightly irritated because a grin has spread across your face. You can't help that his ranting and raving and now suddenly his worry is at least slightly amusing. You can feel something in front of your face. It's like how you knew he was there but you couldn't pinpoint why and you knew it was close and moving. "Terezi? You even there? "

You not looking directly at him makes him think you're not paying attention. You wonder where you actually are looking but try to adjust yourself as much as you can, hoping to actually look like you can see him. He's waving his hand in front of your face but stops as soon as you move.

"Can you get me my clothes?" That really helps his frustration. You know he probably thinks that you're avoiding his question but at that moment, your mind is scattered and you really could care less how much it helps his temper. You know he's going to get irritated by it and you're completely prepared to deal with it. He's going to get irritated by anything so you would rather it be while you're actually dressed.

Karkat hands you the towel from beside your recuperacoon, the one you usually use to clean up the sopor that gets on the floor after stepping out in the evening, and sets your clothes down in the only dry place where it was lying. You giggle after hearing him groan in frustration or disgust and his footsteps grow farther away. He's going to stand against the wall, you assume, as you crawl out and dry yourself off. Sopor always did have an odd smell to it but now more so than before. It smelled sweet now, like vanilla but then had a spearmint kick to it. It smelled… delicious actually. You try to redress quickly to minimize the scolding you knew you would get from your angry friend.

Another thing you could practically smell was the worry falling off of Karkat. As you finished dressing, you threw the towel down on the floor, standing on it to make it soak up the sopor you had spilled earlier. "You don't have to hide now." You giggle, or at least your version of a giggle. Karkat always tells you it's an evil cackle, like nails on a chalkboard. You hear him turn around and as he gets closer, you get a better sense of where he was. This was.. odd. When you had closed your eyes before, turned off the lights, anything like that you were completely blind but now you could tell where things were. Still not see but you didn't know how to even begin to explain it to yourself. You walk forward, trying to find Karkat. He was being so quiet, it was odd for him, and when you moved you had a hard time telling where he was. You end up bumping into him, which gets you the usual scolding. "You couldn't have waited another fucking second? I was coming right back over to you. "

You can tell he's staring down at you. He's probably trying to figure out what's wrong with you. He knows how troll biology works, he knows what that red means. He's probably in denial, probably not ready to believe that it's permanent. Probably not ready to try to inform you like you hadn't already figured out your sight was gone. "How did you… How did you even fucking manage to do this to yourself? You disappear for a few fucking days and worry everyone and then I come to find you looking like you've gotten the shit beaten out of you and…"

He doesn't finish. You were right about him not wanting to admit it, though still not sure if it's to himself or to you.  
"And now I'm blind. You can say it, Karkat. I'm not going to hang you for slander." You giggle again, trying to walk around your hive like you usually do. It's a force of habit when you're around Karkat. Say something that will probably piss him off, laugh, walk away with your 'cocky swagger' as he said once. Then turn back around when you're a few steps away and grin at him, that mocking grin you use. It makes him more flustered than usual and you hate to admit that watching the shorter boy flounder really is one of your favorite past times.

"You're not blind. That'll heal in a few days, okay. I mean, it's not like you're Vriska. Your eyes are still there, her one is gone. Your's can be fixed."

Vriska? Her eye is gone? You can't hold yourself back, even with as much that has happened already that's glorious! You laugh like an idiot, cackling while you can just hear the confusion and irritation coming off of Karkat. He knew you two weren't on good terms anymore and knew that you had platonically hated her but that was about all.

"Sollux and I did it!" You almost scream, still grinning. Oh god, you wish you could see his expression. "I didn't think it would do that much damage. I just wanted to scare her, tell Mr. Vanilla Icecream on her, not that but ha! What happened? Did he just take out her eye or the whole side of her face too? Did her lusus try to eat her yet?" The last question set off the giggles again. You could imagine Spidermom doing that. Vriska's weak; Vriska can't fight; Vriska can't provide. Well then, something needs to feed her lusus. That would be perfect.

There is a long silence from Karkat. He's not answering your questions, he's just standing there. "What the hell is wrong with you?" Well then, looks like it's about time to explain this jumbled mess you have here.


	4. Chapter 4

You feel so worthless right now and you really just want to tell her to go fuck herself, that you're done, fly out the window, go sit in your own fucking hive with your own fucking lusus and let her try to do this without you. That's just how fucking done you are with her and all of this bullshit.

At the moment, you, Karkat Vantas, are in Terezi Pyrope's hive after her explaining the whole situation. They were honestly like a bunch of wrigglers trying to justify things to themselves. "Oh, she hit my friend, I need to hit her back for him. She hit me back for hitting her, now my friend needs to hit her back for me." It was all so stupid. You honestly could believe that Vriska had done this, that she had found some way around dealing with Terezi and was getting payback. You weren't sure how she would do that but all that you need to explain to yourself was that those two were the Scourge Sisters. If they needed to hurt someone, even each other, they would find a way. It was what they did best, after all.

What Terezi had done to her wasn't small. She blew off her arm, all connections to a rather powerful guy, and gotten rid of her 7, or one, you were never quite sure which it was, eye/eyes . But, then again, Vriska had killed Aradia after paralyzing Tavros. This was all so idiotic and childish. People were getting hurt because of other people and it just really needed to stop. This is why you didn't ever bother with FLARPing no matter how much Terezi bothered you to join her 'alliance against the cruel and unjust'.

At the moment, you are cooking like some kind of domestic maid. Terezi never could seem to learn how to cook or not hurt herself while doing so when she could at least see where she was going and now was not exactly the time for her to learn. You're making something for both of you while she lay in her scalemate pile, which she decided to place right in front of the doorway so that she could 'watch' you. She's just trying to piss you off, picking up each one of her scalemates, naming them off for you, and squeaking them. You notice that every once in a while, she'll pick up the same plush and name it something different. She obviously doesn't know which is which, though you can't blame her for not being able to tell, but it's still irritating. She sometimes tries to make things even more painful for you, just trying to test your patience, reaching them out farther to make the squeaks louder and closer to you.

It looks to you like her new-found disability isn't bothering her at all. You almost wish that she did act like something was wrong, just so you could maybe have a moment of quiet. You know that's too much to ask though. Especially from Terezi Pyrope. You knew that nothing could ever bother her, or at least, she wouldn't let it be known if there was something wrong. There was little to nothing that could ever wipe that shit eating grin off of her face and you weren't sure if that was more endearing or frightening.

You put the meal out on plates for the both of you, setting hers down on the floor in front of her. If she's going to be such a pest, she can eat wherever; you weren't going to fight her to make her sit and eat like a normal person. Besides that, she doesn't seem to mind, starting to eat without hesitation though pulling the plate up into her lap after a moment.

"Are you going to message Sollux about this any time soon?" She doesn't even take the moment to finish chewing before speaking. You shake your head a bit at this; common manners are apparently harder to come by than previously thought.

"At some point." You mumble after realizing that she has a surprising lack of furniture in her hive and sitting down behind her in her scalemate pile. You're back to back and she leans up against you, smirking at your slight huff of irritation.

When she next speaks, it's not as cheery as usual. Usually, she's very upbeat, she doesn't seem to worry about anything even if it is something that she should. Now, that's changed and it frightens you. Her voice is quieter, more hushed like she's ashamed and outside sources shouldn't hear. She sounds broken. "What are we going to do?"

You shrug, not exactly sure how to respond to thinking about it for a moment, you realize that you honestly have no idea what to do in this situation. There doesn't seem like there is an easy way out. When the drones come to check on her, she's going to be helpless. She has to worry even now because she doesn't have a present lusus, even though she does have one. No lusus present, defenseless, and blind; she'd be dead.

And then you say one of the stupidest things that could have ever come out of your mouth. "Who says we? I'm not your lusus."

You feel her stiffen against your back, then lean forward away from you. She continues to eat, now in silence. Unsure what to say, you do the same thing. After you've both finished, you sit awkwardly in the quiet for a few minutes before speaking up. "I need to go back to my own hive for a while. I'll be back tomorrow night…"

She nods and you get up, walking over to her husktop. She lies back in the pile, looking around like she's trying to see the walls. You feel bad for her but you'd never let that be known. She's trying to function, trying to go back to normal, trying to make it look like she's taking it in stride. You feel even worse that in that one moment of weakness she had, you pretty much told her she's alone in this. It makes you wonder how she feels, if she's terrified of being alone, if there's more to the Terezi Pyrope you know than just the ignorant bliss.

Shaking your head, you try to shake off the thoughts too. This is getting ridiculous. Your conversation with her from earlier is still up and you read through it. You really don't know the definition of compassion, it's evident by how angry you seem at her. At least she didn't read it. You close the window and start up the chatbox with Sollux. He starts messaging you first though.

"[GC] gallowsCalibrator began trolling [TA] twinArmageddon"  
TA: hey tz  
TA: ii wa2 wonderiing when you were going two get onliine  
TA: diid you hear about vrii2ka  
GC: IT'S NOT TEREZI.  
GC: JUST GET OVER TO HER HIVE, OKAY?  
GC: I HAVE TO LEAVE AND I DON'T TRUST HER NOT TO END UP FALLING OUT OR SOMETHING.  
GC: ALSO, SHE'S BEEN ASKING FOR YOU.  
GC: SHE'LL EXPLAIN LATER. SHE HASN'T SHUT UP ABOUT ALL OF THIS SINCE I GOT HERE.  
TA: iit2 almo2t liight out  
[GC] gallowsCalibrator ceased trolling [TA] twinArmageddon  
TA: wow, a22hole"

Pacing, you sigh and try to collect yourself. You're honestly not sure whether you should wait for him to get there or not but you decide against it, turning back to Terezi. She looks so upset and it bothers you. The usually worriless face looks like its holding back panic and possibly tears. You really hate to admit it, but her new eyes are slightly terrifying to you. You never liked that bright shade of red. In Alternia, you knew it meant instant death. It was the colour of injury, of weakness, as you were much too aware.

"I'll be back tomorrow night. Sollux is coming." You mumble under your breath. You get a nod of recognition, confirmation that she heard you and you start out her window to climb down the ladder. This.. This is going to be a long day.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Sorry, this is kind of a short and meaningless chapter. The actually little bit of conflict/romance/point/conclusion is going to be in the next few chapters.**

Sollux stayed with you all through the day. It was comforting to have him there though you knew that he wouldn't be able to sleep. His dreams were bad even with the sopor and outside of it should be nearly impossible and completely terrifying to try to sleep at all thanks to his dreams.

Sollux told you about how Tavros was doing, how Vriska was. How she was functioning and what you had actually done to her. He told you about the different plans Equius was thinking about doing for Tavros, maybe Vriska and about how maybe Equius could do the same for you and your eyes.

You explained what had happened to the best of your knowledge. You had little to no idea on what had actually happened but you figured that you could try to piece things together. You were asleep, you woke up outside, now you can't see and you're burned beyond belief. There's a voice in your head that keeps singing to you and it's not Vriska and your dreams aren't terrifying but they're weird. Colours are everywhere and everything smells nice. It's disorienting but at the same time you enjoy it completely.

It was starting to get dark out when you finally crawled out of your recuperacoon. You felt bad for going to sleep with Sollux still there but you knew that you wouldn't be able to stay awake for much longer. Your body was exhausted and you couldn't have stayed awake if you tried.

He was unphased by your naked body and continued shuffling around the room when you started drying yourself off. You two were at the point of being so comfortable with each other that it barely even mattered that you had no clothing on. You assumed he was packing up, you could hear everything going to one general area of the room.

"Tz, have you seen where I put my husktop?" His lisp was pretty clear as usual but you had no trouble understanding him.

You giggle, pushing your hair back and starting to dress. "Wow, asshole." You mutter, grinning at him. You weren't offended but you always have been the type to use things like this to your advantage.

He flounders for a moment, stuttering to try to fix his sentence but sighing in defeat after the second try. "Sorry." The shuffling of your law books, drawings, scalemates, and anything else in the way of your room continues until you hear an almost silent 'finally' from the other side of the room.

Slipping your shirt over your head, you walk over to the general direction you know he's in. You hear the ruffle of his clothes as he straightens up and you can tell where he is, only faintly, but you still can now that you're closer. "You're leaving me for the night?" You can tell that he picks up his bag, slinging it over his shoulder. "Oh, whatever shall I do? Poor blind forest girl needs someone to take care of her at all times, right?"

He scoffs and pushes your shoulder lightly. "You know why, Tz. We're just being careful. Kk should be back in an hour. I need to go feed biclops so I'll be back in the morning." You two exchange your goodbyes, his warnings about Vriska and small objects in your house, and he gives you a long, lingering hug before finally leaving.

That boy worries you sometimes. He just lost his moirail, it's to be expected that he needs some kind of crutch. But you just can't shake off that little bit of pale that's creeping up into your thinkpan.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Okay so I think there's only going to be three more chapters. So screw the major conflict bit, I already wrote the last chapter and it's in TZ's point of view but I want to do a little more before I turn this in. **

You were back in hell. Terezi was sitting in her tree, out on one of the branches, staring up at the sky. The sun had just gone down, enough that it wouldn't burn anyone but not enough that the sky wasn't turning beautiful colours. She couldn't see but she tried. You could tell she was trying so hard.

As you start to climb the ladder, you see her barely move to glance down at you out of habit, not seeming too worried about your sudden appearance even though there was no way she could tell who it was. You fling the small bag full of things you're sure she's going to need; canned food, bandages, pain killers, that one scalemate she made for you forever ago. Joining her up on the branch, everything is silent between you two.

"I'm sorry." Those are the only two words she says to you and you're honestly kind of surprised. She leans up against your shoulder, still trying to stare at the sky.

"What?" Wow, you're getting points for vocabulary today.

"You don't want to be here. It was just kind of hit and miss that I messaged you. So I'm sorry that I'm your newest ball and chain." She says it so matter-of-fact. She's not upset, she's not emotional. She's just stating the facts like this is another fucking court case of hers.

"Of course I don't want to be here. I don't think anyone would." This is not turning out how you hoped it would so you continue to try to save yourself. "But no one else has their thinkpan screwed on tight enough to even bother trying to help you, save Sollux. Even then, he's too busy wallowing in self-pity that it's kind of pathetic to think that he could be taking care of someone. I'd have ended up getting stuck with your ass anyways because no one can figure out how to conduct themselves, much less a blind chick that has some kind of thing about dying, seeing as how she's just asking to fall to her death being out here like this." That could have gone so much better.

She doesn't seem to mind though because that grin of hers is planted back on her face. You never thought you'd actually enjoy seeing that but in that moment, a small flood of relief flows back over you because she's back to normal. "Protective, are we?" She taunts, standing up and walking back into her hive, jumping down on to the floor. You flinch, ready to try to catch her if she falls but the girl is like a cat and keeps her balance the whole way through. God, she scares you sometimes.

You follow after her, not sure how it comes so easily to her, especially on the not particularly wide tree branches of her hive. You notice the place is more trashed than before, this time with chalk scribbles on the walls along side of the dragon drawings she had from before. All of them were what she was hoping her lusus would look like and now they're accompanied by what looks like something a half-maimed wriggler could draw.

"What the fuck happened?" You push a law book out of your way. It was spread open and tossed to the side carelessly, the spine probably breaking as you spoke. The girl in front of you shrugs though, dragging her feet across the floor.

"Sollux left. I got bored." She tries to make her way over to the scalemate pile but misses by a long shot, knocking into the wall. Terezi seems unphased though, continuing her search with her feet, stepping on one of the scalemates at the edge of the pile and then collapsing into it.

You needed to do something. Walking over to the scalemate pile, you take Terezi by her hands and pull her up into a standing position. She looks irritated and tries to question, but you shoosh her and then turn her to face the window from her pile. "Where's your FLARP stuff?"

She looks confused, crossing her arms across her chest. "I'm not quite interested in FLARPing anymore, Karkat. Just in case you hadn't noticed."

You roll your eyes at her and walk back over to one of the chests in her room. You weren't sure why everyone had these, but you figured this is where she probably would keep her things. Opening the chest, you see what you had been looking for. You grab the dragon cane and walk back over to Terezi, taking her hand and putting the head of the cane on her palm, wrapping her fingers around it. She didn't seem amused with how you were helping her with everything but you had a plan.

"Swing it. Do whatever. Just use it to make sure where you're going." You instruct vaguely but she seems to understand, starting to cautiously swing it around and tapping it on the floor in front of her. The girl doesn't seem too impressed by it until she finds you. She taps your foot a few times, a small grin coming over her face before taking her cane and smacking it hard into your knee.

Fuck.

She's giggling like an idiot and you're knelt over, rubbing your wounded leg. "What the fuck, Terezi?" You were trying to help her and this is how she repays you?

"Sorry, Karkat. I couldn't see what I was doing." Fuck, you really hated that shit eating grin that you think is permanently tattooed on her face at this point.

"Bullshit." You grumble, straightening back up. Your knee was still throbbing but it was easy to ignore. You were annoyed though, irritated that she would do that while you're trying to help her. Exasperated, you wave your hand for her to leave but you quickly realize that it was a useless gesture. "Go, walk, do something." You tell her and as she starts moving, you follow close behind her. You have to push her out of the way of some objects she didn't swing far enough to hit and guide her away from a wall once or twice but as she continues, she more easily uses the cane to move around her room.

Confident, she tells you to stop following her like some kind of lost creature and sit down somewhere so that she can do this on her own. After a bit of protesting, you sit down against the wall and watch her. As she avoids a scalemate, you can't help but slightly smile to yourself at the girl practically strutting in front of you, all giggles and grins from being able to walk around her own block without running into something.

The charm of it wears off after a few minutes though and she settles down next to you. You swear that grin hasn't left her face yet. She leans her back up against your arm and lies her head against your shoulder, reaching up to play with your hair. God, she's weird. It's obvious she's doing it just to bother you and what's pissing you off the most is that it's working.

"You smell amazing." And now her weird factor just went up too.

"Wow, creeper." You mutter, which just sends her off into another set of giggles. She puts her arms down and twists around, hugging your bicep and resting her cheek on your shoulder. She gets quiet for a few minutes, barely smiling. It's kind of shocking to you. You're used to the grin that she usually has plastered on her face but this is a genuine smile.

"Thank you."

"What for? For making sure you didn't end up killing yourself? Don't mention it."

"No. For caring if I do."

She gets up and walks away from you before you can respond, clicking the cane against the floor to get to her scalemate pile. Apparently, next to you on the floor wasn't good enough but you honestly couldn't blame her and after she's sat down, you follow behind her. You flop down into the pile next to her and she leans up against you, hugging one of the brightly coloured scalemates to her chest. God, she's clingy.

Shifting uncomfortably, you decide not to put up a fuss about her deeming you her newest piece of furniture and support your back against her wall. A few minutes pass by, she's back asleep and lying in your lap. As much as you hate to admit it, she's very pretty. Even more so when sleeping in your arms. You realize that this is just like one of your romcoms and roll your eyes at your own thought. After a harsh debate with yourself, you carefully brush a piece of stray hair out of her face and you swore you could tell that she started smiling in her sleep. Probably laughing at you even in your dreams. Embarrassed, you look away from her and lie your head back against the wall. You can not believe this is happening.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Epitome of short, I apologize. ;u;**

You wake up and you can immediately tell that it's dawn. You can almost smell the light bit of sunshine in the air, even through your blocked out windows.

What you can also tell is that there is a rather amazing smelling troll boy lying next to you and that you're pressed up against him. During the night, Karkat had shifted into lying down in your pile and now his body is stiff like he's distressed but he's got his arms wrapped around you. He's probably having nightmares from sleeping without the sopor. You feel bad for sleeping soundly; your dreams haven't been scary, not even when sleeping on the pile last night. That voice and colours are really the only things ever in them.

You smile to yourself thinking about how it would have played out if he would have been the one to wake up first. Carefully, you crawl out of his arms and sit up in your pile, rasing your arms above your head and stretching but quickly stop. You can tell someone else is in the room and it's really not that far away. Slowly, you lower your arms down, staring intently into what is your own personal darkness. It's force of habit that you try to see what's there but you know that it's no good. The person seems… familiar though. You have no idea why you can even tell they're there but… everything smells a familiar honey scent.

"Welcome back to the world of the waking." The lisp makes you grin and you stand up, grabbing your cane and making your way over to Sollux. "You enjoying yourself there?"

You giggle, sitting down next to him on the floor. "Oh, whatever do you mean?" You reply with a slight sing-song tone to your voice, leaning up against his shoulder.

"Looks like you and KK are getting pretty close. Do I need to even come anymore?" He teases, you can hear the smile in his voice.

"Oh, that." You play. "That's nothing. That was an accident."

A quiet laugh comes from beside you and you can feel his body move as he nods. "Yeah. Accident. Okay."  
Karkat shifts in his sleep, making a slight whine at either his dreams or the noise that you two are making. You and Sollux sit in silence for a while but he's the first one to break it. "You red for him or something?"

You take this much more calmly than you probably should, shrugging at the question. "Why does it matter to you?" You tease, grinning at him. You can practically hear him roll his eyes at you, which just makes you laugh.  
"Just curious of what I might be walking in on is all."

You shake your head at him, your smile widening slightly. "No need to worry there. Whatever shade I might be turning, Sleeping Beauty there isn't anything close to interested."

Now it's Sollux's turn to laugh and he rolls his eyes at you. You feel him shift to look down at you, as if looking for confirmation that you were actually being serious. "Whatever." He says, then gets up, slinging a small bag over his shoulder like before. You're confused, mostly because he just got here but he takes your arm and lightly tugs at you to stand up. "Looks like you're covered here. KK can stay for a while. Have him message me if the asshole wants to go home as soon as he wakes up."

You nod and he pulls you into a quick hug before climbing out your window. You worry about how fast he's going to have to go to get back to his hive before the sun rises to be too much, but you're sure he'll make it as always.  
Walking back to the pile, you lie down next to Karkat again and crawl back into his arms. He'll be pissed but you have to admit, he's warm, he smells nice, and it's rather comforting.

Soon though, your squirming around wakes him up again and now was your turn to act like you were asleep.


End file.
